Archive for December, 2007

The competition is not amongst advertisers, but with the slew of other activities being pursued by the consumer while “watching” television.

Successive all media reports have exposed the staggering number of Jamaican consumers not watching, listening or reading structured media. And for those who are, they are multitasking. As a result, the impact of the advertising message is being lost or at best, minimised. And to add insult to injury, the average consumer is more inclined to watch, listen and read when they want, in what is now referred to as, appointment media.

Internationally and even locally, consumers are being exposed to up to 5,000 marketing messages a day: on the street, on TV, in the newspapers, online. Ads are everywhere but mostly go unnoticed at best or worst yet, noticed but un- registered.

The competition to get consumers’ attention is getting fiercer: where are they to be found? Are they reading a newspaper or browsing the online edition of the same publication? Are they on the bus watching the billboards outside on the highway, or are they playing with their mobile phones?

With the variety of subject material and growing numbers in media choices the consumer can go where he wants for exactly what he wants when he wants. And in response international media is now geared more towards niche and specialised content, allowing for specialised programming opportunities.

In the September edition of OMMA, a magazine of online media marketing and advertising, Steve Smith in his article “ Getting in the Front door”, wrote,

“In an age of fragmentation and user controlled media, even door-to-door salesmen have to adjust their pitches. Consumers are increasingly less willing to open the door or their e-mail inboxes to even highly targeted and personalized pitches, say performance marketing experts. Marketers are chasing audiences across multiple media platforms, and even when they succeed in getting consumers’ attention, it’s getting harder to finesse a response. “People are saying, ‘No more!'” says Michele Fitzpatrick, chief marketing officer, Harte-Hanks Direct. “They don’t want to be bombarded with messages.”

For instance, in Jamaica, all cable channels i.e. local cable and free to air on the television set now have an equal probability of been seen by the viewer, depending on the nature of the content and the consumers interest at that particular point in time. Of course the issue of distribution of the signal will determine the potential number of viewers, but all other things been equal, the probability is the same for the same type of programming content. So in the case of news for example, the consumer can choose from a wide array of local and international news presentations at 7 and at 8 pm. Each has equal probability of being watched. And the penetration of cable into Jamaican homes has resulted in an increased interaction with international media, further distancing the consumer from local media interaction.

This rapid explosion of media entities has created a booming market for well produced and presented content from independent producers, facilitating the rapid growth of the content production industry.

Due to the elusive nature of the consumer more and more Jamaican advertisers are now accepting the segmentation of the media market. They are also now seeing the benefits of direct marketing, seeking a more direct contact and interaction with their customers through promotions and special events.

Enter Attention Economics.

The Wikipedia encyclopedia defines Attention Economics as an approach to the management of information that treats human attention as a scarce commodity, and applies economic theory to solve various information management problems.

Herbert Simon was perhaps the first person to articulate the concept of attention economics when he wrote:

“…in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it” (Simon 1971, p. 40-41).

He noted that many designers of information systems incorrectly represented their design problem as information scarcity rather than attention scarcity, and as a result they built systems that excelled at providing more and more information to people, when what was really needed were systems that excelled at filtering out unimportant or irrelevant information (Simon 1996, p. 143-144).

“Attention Economics” today is primarily concerned with the problem of getting consumers to consume advertising. Traditional media advertisers followed a model that suggested consumers went through a linear process they called AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

Attention is therefore a crucial and the first stage in the process of converting non-consumers. Since the cost to transmit advertising to consumers is now sufficiently low that more ads can be transmitted to a consumer than the consumer can process, inevitably the consumer’s attention becomes the scarce resource to be captured.

In 2005, there was a surge of interest in attention economics as applied to advertising. Consultants began offering expertise in the attention economy as it applied to advertising. “Across consumer markets, attention is becoming the scarcest – and so most strategically vital – resource in the value chain. Attention scarcity is fundamentally reshaping the economics of most industries it touches; beginning with the media industry.” (Haque 2005)

The answers are difficult to find, so – Think Differently, Integrate, Don’t separate, Don’t focus on talking, rather, Listen to the people: they will not tell you the perfect solution, but they’ll show you the right way through blogs, billboards, podcasting, mobile phones and… through TV advertising.

Like this:

Marketing and Advertising professionals clamour to expose their brand of products and services to an increasingly younger, mobile, technologically exposed and educated populous in an increasingly fragmented and specialised media environment. But, although the marketplace today abounds with opportunities, the information landscape is constantly changing and evolving, requiring these professionals to constantly stay abreast of developments and technology, in order to make better returns on media purchases and more informed media decisions.

In recognition of these opportunities, The Caribbean Media Conference and Exposition was created to provide vital information and direction to those within the industry: bringing the two groups together- media sellers and buyers. The 2007 Caribbean Media Conference and Exposition was advertised and promoted throughout the region and selected markets in the US and the surrounding region, and is expected to attract over 300 participants each day.

The theme of CMCE 2007: Consumer Engagement— key for media success.

As marketers begin to structure their 2008 marketing budget the media landscape will continue to see major changes and challenges. What is available? What are the options and how best can they be used? What are the latest trends and developments taking place in Jamaica, the Caribbean and around the world? What about the emerging role of new technologies and its effect on the media and marketing industries?

This year’s conference will see the Telecommunications sector and the Mobile/cell phone technology playing a major role. The developments taking place in this industry will continue to have a profound impact as it continues to change the face of media, as we know it. To some extent last year’s topic, “Is the telecommunications industry the new mediascape & the new frontier?” set the stage for this year’s theme. This year more time will be spent looking at these developments.

So where are we going? Let’s consider some of the perspectives taken from local and international media headlines over the past year.

The Empowered Consumers Perspective

“In an age of fragmentation and user controlled media, even door-to-door salesmen have to adjust their pitches. Consumers are increasingly less willing to open the door or their e-mail inboxes to even highly targeted and personalized pitches,”

The discipline best known as “direct marketing” needs a new approach that takes into account media-averse and empowered consumers. “You can’t think of them as a target,” says Kathy Sharpe, CEO, Sharpe Partners. “If anything, we are the targets.” In a world of increasingly personalized digital media, where consumers are accustomed to TiVo, RSS feeds, podcasts, wireless data on their cell phones, and customized home pages, people don’t want to be pushed into anything.

The Advertisers perspective

In the estimation of marketers, it’s no longer enough for new media to attract large numbers of users — they also must be engaged, according to media buyers on a panel organized by the International Radio-Television Society. “The new ROI, is ROA: return on attention,” said Anita Newton, VP for marketing at Kansas City, Mo.-based Sprint.

Advertisers are now employing highly skilled and trained marketing professionals who are able to do many of the account and creative servicing and coordination functions that traditional agencies are set up to do. But, should the client really be doing these things? Why not?

Many clients, dissatisfied with the level of creativity from their agencies are refusing to pay for creative output, preferring to develop their own creative message and contract a production company for its execution rather than going through an agency. For many, this is a result of the agency failing to live up to its mandate and so becoming less critical to the client’s operations.

The agency-client relationship was recently described as a relationship, in which the agency is prevented from flirting with a competitive client, but the client was free to flirt with, and even engage with another agency, in other words the agency of record was in name only.

The advertising industry perspective

Buffeted by a changing media environment, the advertising industry is being forced to re-evaluate its entire approach to doing business. Some observers say the gray flannel suits and three-martini lunches are giving way to enormous institutional changes focused on cost-cutting, consolidation and a growing aversion to risk-taking.

Are you just running a business, or are you leading a crusade? Does your agency have a sense of purpose that transcends making money? Do you have a company of workers or a company of believers? Purpose is about moving beyond success to significance. Remarkable agencies aren’t just trying to create advertising, but in some small way, change the world. Thoughts from Tim Williams, Ignition Consulting Group, and author of “Take a Stand for Your Brand.”

An excerpt from “Why Agencies Should Put a Price on Ideas,” by Claire Beal, appearing in Campaign magazine in 2006 comments, “Until agencies manage to charge for ideas, the whole pitch process will continue to see agencies squandering their most valuable assets. And business will continue being won on rates that fail to recognize the value innovative creative ideas can add to a client’s stock.”

“I believe we should be paid by the idea. If we spend four hours and the idea is worth $50 million, it doesn’t seem right to just be paid for four hours. I think it’s the compensation model that really should be looked at.” David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO, quoted at the 2006 ANA Agency Relations Forum in New York.

The Media Industry Perspective

And as debate and opinions rage on, the media fights to stay relevant and profitable as it faces declining revenues, demands for lower ad rates in line with reduced audiences, increased competition, audience discontent with advertising overload, increased convergence and expansion as technology drives the form and nature of this competitive field.

Media managers are questioning the sanctity of the media commission. They understand why it was put there at the inception of the industry, but cannot understand what agencies are doing today to earn it. In an environment of shrinking margins should we as media be giving up as much as 18% of our revenue to an entity that just sits between us and the advertiser?

The need to make direct pitches to agency clients is becoming more and more a requirement for media to meet revenue targets. Agencies can no longer be depended on to sell airtime and space.

Should media be involved in the production of advertisements in direct competition with advertising agencies? Does this represent a conflict or simply the media seeking to ensure that it has commercials to fill air time and space.

Where to the media? A question made all the more critical in this age of media groups formed through mergers and acquisitions driving the need for critical mass and forcing small media players to the sideline.

Should media be involved in the production of advertisements in direct competition with advertising agencies? Does this represent a conflict or simply the media seeking to ensure that it has commercials to fill air time and space.

Where to the media? A question made all the more critical in this age of media groups formed through mergers and acquisitions driving the need for critical mass and forcing small media players to the sideline.

This presentation will highlight industry trends, challenges and opportunities that face Caribbean Media across the region and throughout the Caribbean Diaspora. The session will detail the current state of Caribbean Media coupled with offering recommendations that could serve to further expand the sector.

10:45- 11:00am

1st Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:45am

Consumer-driven Media Content: The Challenges and Opportunities of the Emerging Wiki World.

Dr. Hopeton Dunn.

Communications Technology Analyst and Academic Director, Telecommunications Policy and Management Programme, Mona School of Business, University of the West Indies.

It used to be that professional publishers were the original creators of media content. Given the escalation of consumer voices and the myriad platforms they now use to express themselves, users are emerging as dynamic new content production sources in the grand Wiki world enabled by Web 2.0.

Publishers are evolving towards being aggregators and editors of content. How do consumer voices in the content mix affect traditional editorial voices, media planning, and even creative project executions? What new opportunities exist for marketers to tap into user communities and niches? How do publishers retain the richness and diversity of the citizen voices, yet maintain their own editorial tone and integrity? And what impact does the inclusion of consumer generated content have on the regulation of the sector?

12:00–12:45pm

New techniques, prolonging and sharpening existing media’s value – from Checkmate by OMD to NeuroPlanning by PHD, to barter.

Mr. Greg Hoyos

Regional Marketing Columnist and Author

Barbados

New media and their potential grab all the headlines these days. But only a fraction of clients’ budgets go into them at this point. Old media continue to have a robust role in reaching consumers and delivering audiences, and the best media agencies have developed innovative software to maximise their value. Omnicom Media group’s two worldwide networks, OMD and PHD, are among the leaders. OMD has a proprietary process called Checkmate, while PHD takes a different approach, called ETNA, which includes Neuroplanning, the science of using media to reach different parts of the brain.

Both these techniques sharpen the use of existing and new media, and Greg Hoyos will give a review of the theory and practice of each. He will also discuss how Barter, one of the oldest transactions in man and media, has been raised to a science by another Omnicom Agency, Icon.

01:00 –02:00pm

Lunch

Moderator Afternoon Session – Elaine Bryan – EWB Associates

02:00-02:45pm

Challenges facing Legal and regulator framework for the new media environment

Mr. Cordel Green,

Executive Director

Jamaica Broadcasting Commission.

This presentation will look at and present the hot button issues being addressed by the Broadcasting Commission. The presentation will cover a range of issues impacting media and technology businesses, including cable industry and advertising; digital television; media ownership; competition; spectrum, indecency and broadband deployment. The presentation will consider how the Broadcasting Commission rulings are likely to impact the future of media and the businesses operating in the new mobile digital media space.

02:45pm

2nd Coffee Break

03:00:03:45pm

How “cutting edge” technology is supporting the growth of the Media and Entertainment Industries and the legal implications?

Panel Discussion

Moderator – Aldo

Christopher A. Edmonds

President

Rebelmix Inc. “Caribbean Music Online”

Mr. Rodger McKenzie

Manager

Jamaica Wireless LLC – MTPS

Mr. Eugene Ffolkes

Managing Director

Telegens Inc

David Mullings

Managing Partner

Random Media LLC

Michael Lewis

President and CEO

Caribbean Marketing and Media Corporation

Exhibitions – Showcase and product demonstrations etc

Day 2- Thursday October 11th 2007

8:00am-9:00amRegistration & Networking opportunity

9:00am-9: 10amWelcome, introductions & review of Day 1

Aldo – Project Director

9:30 am

Key Note Presentation

Mr. Chris Hayman

Commercial Director

Digicel Jamaica

Moderator Morning Session – Elaine Byran

10:00 – 10:45am

“How to successful get Consumers Engaged”

Leahcim Semaj, PhD

CEO, The JobBank

Leahcim T. Semaj & Company Limited

Resultants in Human Behaviour, Productivity & Psychometric Testing

“Marketers are chasing audiences across multiple media platforms, and even when they succeed in getting consumers’ attention, it’s getting harder to finesse a response.” People are saying, ‘No more!'” says Michele Fitzpatrick, chief marketing officer, Harte-Hanks Direct. “They don’t want to be bombarded with messages.”

This presentation, using actual case studies looks at how international brands are engaging consumer research to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour, the reason and rationale behind their decisions and how consumers can be successful engaged in the new digital and mobile media environment.

10:45 – 11:00am

1st coffee break

11:00- 11:45am

“New Media meets the New World – Direct Marketing engages consumers in the Caribbean”,

Karen Crichlow-Thomas

Managing Director, AK Insights Ltd.

Trinidad

This presentation takes a look at the evolution of marketing media from the traditional approach to today’s new consumer-centric approaches. Current trends in US marketing spend are discussed and we get a glimpse at some of the industry’s latest and fastest growing new media options. Next, some of the main ICT enablers and challenges for Caribbean marketers are explored and finally, we take a closer look at the specific area of Direct Marketing, its principles and share a few of the region’s Direct Marketing pioneers and their success stories.

12:00-12:45 noon

How consumer technology is changing the media landscape

ØCable vs. Free to air

ØThe transformation of AM into digital broadcasting.

ØThe Internet and print media

ØThe mobile phone and traditional media

ØUsing GPS to more accurately track consumers and lead consumers to your place of business.

ØThe Age of Mobile commerce – using the cell phone to purchase tickets, books and vending machines

01:00 – 02:00

Lunch

Moderator Afternoon Session – Rachel Stampfli – One Caribbean Media

02:00 – 02:45pm

The Age of the Mobile Media: The Next Big Thing?

Mr. Emerson Hewitt
VP Marketing and Products
C&W Barbados Ltd

The launch of new mobile devices and services has opened up a whole new world of mobile media possibilities. The recent confluence of several key technology events in the mobile phone industry have set the stage for the wireless web to offer advertisers the type of content, reach and presence that make it worth spending money in this new media channel.

These milestones include:

1. Significant increase in consumer awareness

2.Faster connectivity speeds and 3G Networks — so content can be accessed

3.The introduction of WAP 2.0 — this enables more robust graphics and a better user experience.

4.Better handset functionality — this enables more data services

Data services include technologies such as the wireless web, video, text messaging, game downloads, instant messaging and email that are transforming the mobile phone into an always-with-you, always-on, communication-information-entertainment device.

This presentation will discuss the current state of the mobile media market and the opportunities today and in the years to come

02:45pm

2nd Coffee Break

03:00 –04:30pm

Leadership Summit – A View from the Top looking ahead:

This panel of media insiders will discuss the current state of the industry, including hot button issues such as how big media companies and groups will balance the opportunities presented by the telecommunications industry, cable and digital distribution with the possible cannibalization of existing businesses. What are the most likely business models for user-generated content? What is the future for ad-supported free distribution of digital content – including music, video and games – online? What is the next big thing in digital media in the next 12 months to 2 years and who will be the winners and losers in the years to come? What do we do with conventional media on the road to mobility, PLUS much more!

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